{"id":9205,"date":"2019-08-09T08:32:19","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T16:32:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/?p=9205"},"modified":"2019-08-18T08:34:52","modified_gmt":"2019-08-18T16:34:52","slug":"evaluating-eco-terrorism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/animalliberationpressoffice.org\/NAALPO\/2019\/08\/09\/evaluating-eco-terrorism\/","title":{"rendered":"Evaluating \u201cEco-Terrorism\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

The term may not be suitable for describing radical environmentalists, academics argue<\/h4>\n
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by\u00a0Nicole Gonzalez Filo<\/a><\/div>\n
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\"\"<\/a>It\u2019s no secret that pollution and environmental contamination is changing the planet. Industry pollutes the environment, and each day that goes by, machines release toxins like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into breathable air. Slaughterhouses can contribute to pollution immensely through irresponsible wastewater disposal, which can leak manure, grease, and fat into rivers and oceans. In these ways and others, the operation of corporate enterprises causes millions of dollars worth of environmental damage that directly affects people.<\/p>\n

In Canada, disasters like the Mount Polley mine tailings pond collapse have long-lasting consequences for the ecosystems they affect. The collapse happened on Aug. 4, 2014 and sent 25 million litres of contaminated sludge and water into Polley Lake, Hazeltine Creek, and Quesnel Lake. These bodies provide drinking water to local residents, and are used by sockeye salmon as a spawning area.<\/p>\n

Even with the millions of dollars put into cleaning Polley Lake, the damages remain extensive to this day.<\/p>\n

Instances like these might inspire environmentalists to take direct action. For some, that action may be radical, or even violent.<\/p>\n

One example is the case of a Canadian, Rebecca Rubin. In 2013,\u00a0Rubin pleaded guilty<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0to charges of conspiracy and arson in the U.S. laid against her for crimes she committed as a member of the Earth Liberation Front and Animal Liberation Front. Consequently, she was widely deemed an eco-terrorist.<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Shantz, a criminology instructor at KPU who has\u00a0written<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0extensively<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0about<\/a><\/strong>environmental politics and has been involved in ecological movements, says that the origin of the term terrorism comes from the Terror period during the French revolution, when it was used to refer to actions by the state against civilians.<\/p>\n

\u201cTerrorism is a government body inflicting violence or some kind of harm on the civilian population as a means of keeping them in their place or regulating them, or keeping control over them,\u201d says Shantz.<\/p>\n

Because of this, and because terrorism is usually directed at a wider public population rather than a small group, he doesn\u2019t believe the term eco-terrorism should be used to describe organizations like the Animal Liberation Front, which have specific isolated targets like testing labs or factory farms.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people who are resisting are not engaged in terrorism. They are engaged in acts of property destruction. They are engaged in acts of sabotage. They are engaged in acts of civil disobedience. They are engaged in acts of protest. They might be engaged in strikes or blockades or things like that,\u201d he says. \u201cCan we define those [acts] as terrorism? No. They\u2019re defence of the environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Activists work to try and save the planet from contamination and rescue animals from inhumane living conditions, but if they commit crimes, resort to violence, or attack places that harm the environment or its wildlife, they might earn the title of \u201ceco-terrorist.\u201d<\/p>\n

An article by\u00a0The Washington Post<\/i>\u00a0called \u201cEcoterrorism: threat or political ploy?\u201d mentioned that \u201ca recent publication<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0shows that radical environmentalists and animal rights activists have been responsible for 1,069 criminal acts in the United States between 1970 and 2007.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe authors categorize three actions as assassinations (0.3 per cent), 44 as armed assaults (4.1 per cent), 55 as bombings\/explosions (5.1 per cent), 933 as facility attacks (87.3 per cent), 30 as unarmed assaults (2.8 per cent) and four as unknown (0.4 per cent).\u201d<\/p>\n

The RCMP lists the Earth Liberation Front as the most prominent ecological group in Canada which \u201cuses radical means to stop the exploitation and destruction of the environment.\u201d In some cases, this includes taking \u201cdirect action\u201d like vandalising or destroying property.<\/p>\n

In Canada, instances of eco-terrorism as defined by the RCMP are rare. In 2008 and 2009, there were four bombings that targeted gas pipelines in the Dawson Creek area which police suspect was motivated by locals wanting to protect the environment.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0Foreign Policy<\/i>\u00a0magazine article<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0titled \u201cThe Next Wave of Extremists Will Be Green\u201d mentions that, in 2001, the Earth Liberation Front was listed by the FBI as the top domestic terrorist threat to the U.S.<\/p>\n

The article states that \u201cacademics have estimated that \u2018REAR\u2019 (Radical Environmentalist and Animal Rights) cells can be found in at least 25 countries and were responsible for more than 1,000 criminal acts between 1970 and 2007 in the United States alone\u2014mostly vandalism and attacks on animal testing facilities.\u201d Notably, these are only estimates.<\/p>\n

Charles Quist-Adade, an instructor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University who taught a course on terrorism, globalization, and social justice, says that, \u201cfor an act or an action to be called a terrorist act, it must have several components.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is causing harm, causing death, and also destroying property. Plus, of course, inciting fear. That is what terrorism aims to do,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I don\u2019t think that protecting against the ravages of the environment by corporations and government should qualify, or should be termed terrorism, per se. Maybe another term could be coined.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the U.S., during a 2004 Senate hearing titled \u201cAnimal Rights: Activism Vs Criminality,\u201d Attorney Mcgregor W. Scott stated that \u201canimal terrorists are increasingly targeting not only animal enterprises themselves, such as research facilities and companies that engage in animal testing, but also anyone who is believed to be engaged in the provision of services to such animal enterprises.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSome people may call these acts terrorist, others may see these acts as simply helping to protect our endangered species and our environment,\u201d says Adade. \u201cOne man\u2019s terrorist is another\u2019s person liberator.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 2015 article by\u00a0The Guardian<\/i>\u00a0titled\u00a0\u201cCanadian mounties\u2019 secret memo casts doubt on climate change threat\u201d<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0states that a leaked RCMP memo showed that the organisation \u201crepeatedly departs from the conclusions of an overwhelming majority of scientists\u2014and the majority of elected leaders in the international arena\u2014that climate change is a growing threat to global security.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, the memo on the \u2018anti-Canada petroleum movement\u2019 presents continued expansion of oil and gas production as an inevitability, and repeatedly casts doubt on the causes and consequences of climate change,\u201d it reads.<\/p>\n

Since then, the RCMP has developed a \u201cDepartmental Sustainable Development Strategy<\/a><\/strong>\u201d where they commit to being more environmentally-conscious through things like procuring hybrid vehicles and setting targets to \u201creduce the environmental impact on specific goods or services.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Macmillan, KPU student and organizer of the animal rights group Let\u2019s Be Compassionate, feels that the term \u201ceco-terrorism\u201d should be used to describe those contributing to climate change\u2014as the RCMP is accused of doing in the past\u2014rather than those trying to address it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing how many people really buy into [the idea that] we need to find this new market for oil and it will help pay for things, but I mean, this is such short-term thinking, people are going to look back on this and think that\u2019s eco-terrorism,\u201d says Macmillan. \u201cPipeline spills, climate damage\u2014that, to me, is eco-terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The term may not be suitable for describing radical environmentalists, academics argue by\u00a0Nicole Gonzalez Filo It\u2019s no secret that pollution and environmental contamination is changing the planet. Industry pollutes the environment, and each day that goes by, machines release toxins like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide into breathable air. Slaughterhouses can contribute to pollution … <\/p>\n

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